Germany kick off World Cup with big win

All six Bayern players in Germany’s squad featured as the four-time world champions began their 2026 World Cup campaign with a 7-1 win over Curaçao. Manuel Neuer and Aleksandar Pavlović both played the full 90 minutes in Houston on Sunday, while Joshua Kimmich (83 minutes), Jonathan Tah (73), Jamal Musiala (64) and Leon Goretzka (17) were also involved.

Felix Nmecha’s early opener was cancelled out midway through the first half by Livano Comenencia, but Germany restored their lead before the break thanks to Nico Schlotterbeck and then Kai Havertz’s penalty. Musiala made it 4-1 after the restart from a Kimmich assist. Nathaniel Brown added a fifth before captain Kimmich set up Deniz Undav for the sixth. Havertz rounded things off in the closing minutes.

“It’s important in a tournament like this that we got off to a good start and played in an exciting way,” said Neuer after the game, which was his 20th at the World Cup to go level with France’s Hugo Lloris for most appearances by a goalkeeper in the finals. Germany’s second game of Group E is on Saturday (22:00 CEST) in Toronto against Ivory Coast, who beat Ecuador 1-0 in their opener.

Bayern defender Hiroki Ito played the full 90 minutes as Japan claimed a late 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in their first game of Group F. Virgil van Dijk put the Dutch ahead early in the second half, but Keito Nakamura hit back only six minutes later for the Samurai Blue. Parity lasted only seven minutes before Crysencio Summerville put the Oranje back in front. Daichi Kamada’s 89th-minute equaliser snatched Japan a point in Dallas. Ito’s second group game is at 6am CEST on Sunday in Monterrey against Tunisia, who were beaten 5-1 by Sweden in their opener.